KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 15 — The ringgit opened higher against the US dollar on Monday as buying interest for the local note continued, backed by the encouraging economic growth data and the easing sentiment for the US dollar due to the latest inflation data, analysts said.

At 9am, the local currency rose to 4.4430/4480 versus the greenback from Friday’s close of 4.4435/4455.

According to reports, given the positive gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 8.9 per cent in the second quarter of 2022 (Q2 2022), Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Aziz expects that Malaysia’s growth will continue to accelerate in Q3 2022, driven by private consumption.

Last week, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) governor Tan Sri Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus said the ringgit has remained relatively stable against Malaysia's major trading partners' currencies, despite the stronger US dollar environment.

The governor said that in Q2 2022, the ringgit’s nominal effective exchange rate (NEER) stood at a marginal depreciation of 0.1 per cent.

Meanwhile, the ringgit saw mixed trading against a basket of major currencies this morning.

It fell against the Singapore dollar to 3.2424/2465 from 3.2406/2428 at Friday’s close, and weakened vis-a-vis the Japanese yen to 3.3956/3439 from 3.3292/3310 previously.

However, the local note appreciated versus the British pound to 5.3956/4017 from 5.3975/3999 on Friday and marginally rose against the euro at 4.5621/5672 from 4.5759/5780 previously. — Bernama